Requested sentence for Mehmet Ali Erbil and Serdar Ortaç announced

An indictment has been prepared requesting up to 3 years in prison for Mehmet Ali Erbil and Serdar Ortaç as part of the investigation into the 'promotion of illegal betting' conducted in Istanbul.

The investigations conducted against Mehmet Ali Erbil and Serdar Ortaç on allegations that they advertised illegal betting and encouraged people to participate have been completed.

In two separate indictments prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was requested that the suspects Ortaç and Erbil be sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison for the crime of 'encouraging individuals to play fixed-odds or mutual betting or games of chance based on sports competitions by advertising or other means'.

Meanwhile, it was learned that investigations into other suspect social media influencers are ongoing.

WHY WERE MEHMET ALİ ERBİL AND SERDAR ORTAÇ PENALIZED?

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had issued detention warrants for 23 suspects, including social media influencers and some famous names, in the investigation into allegations of promoting illegal betting.

It was determined that the suspects alleged to have appeared in illegal betting advertisements included singer Serdar Ortaç, presenter Mehmet Ali Erbil, former football player Batuhan Karadeniz, and social media influencers İbrahim Yılmaz, Muzaffer Zorbey Erkoçkar, Sefa Caner Sarıçam, as well as Aleksander Mensikof, a citizen of both Russia and Turkey.

In the operation carried out by the Istanbul Police Department, 16 of the suspects, including Mehmet Ali Erbil and Serdar Ortaç, were detained; it was learned that 5 of the suspects were abroad and efforts to locate the other 2 were continuing.

Following their processing at the police station, Serdar Ortaç and Mehmet Ali Erbil were placed under "house arrest" as a judicial control measure, while 12 suspects, including Sefa Caner Sarıçam, Esma Sözen, Muzaffer Zorbey Erkoçkar, and İbrahim Yılmaz, were arrested, and 2 suspects were released under judicial control conditions.

The prosecutor's office had appealed the judicial control measure imposed by the criminal judgeship of peace for 4 suspects, including Erbil and Ortaç, and had requested that these suspects also be arrested.